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Geek Dads Weekly #45 – Why Are You Screaming!?

We began this week with a major snafu – I sort of… well… forgot to hit the record button. Once we got it rolling though, things were good. We started with a bit of a rant about the afternoon that I had to spend at our local Chuck E. Cheese’s (we won’t be taking them on as a sponsor anytime soon, trust me).

Next up, we discussed two contests that we’re running. Drew is still running his SwagsGiving contest over at BenSpark.com – definitely go check that out for some awesome prizes – and here at Geek Dads Weekly we’re giving away five Gold passes to Affiliate Summit West 2011! Want to win the first pass? Give us a call! Pick up the phone, dial 281-826-2112 and tell us your name and why you’d like to go to Affiliate Summit West in January.

We wrapped up with a short discussion about a story that’s been getting a lot of media attention this week: the mom that went along with her five-year-old son’s desire to dress up as Daphne, from Scooby-Doo, for Halloween. Neither of us have a problem with the kid’s choice of costume – but we agreed that it’s strange that a mom who takes care not to mention her son’s real name on her blog thought that it was A-OK to put an unaltered picture of him in-costume in the article. Hm.

Great show! I happened to catch the blog post about the Daphne costume on StumbleUpon before it went crazy big and ended up on Good Morning America. I know a lot of mom bloggers use fake names for their kids. But you are right that it is interesting that they still use pictures.

I am 100% with you on Chuck E. Cheese. I won't even go there. We have always had a standing "no birthday party at CEC" rule in our house. My husband takes the kids almost every time that I go to a conference, so I don't feel like I am depriving them. But I personally hate it! Bad pizza, germs everywhere….gives me the creeps just thinking about it.

Thanks, Tricia! I'm not one to use fake names or initials to refer to the kids – there is nothing that any bad guy can gain simply by knowing their names. Using a fake name gives parents (most of whom use their own real names, and it's not hard to look them up) a false sense of security. I mean really, how hard is it, when you know a parent's first and last name and where they live, to figure out what their kids' names are? The internet has changed things, but there has never been a time when a kid's name was considered private information… when I was a kid, my sister's name and photo were printed in the paper – no parental consent required.

I think I just found a topic for the next show :D
Actually, we're doing bullying on Sunday… maybe after that.

The CEC thing… I just know we're going to get talked into having a party there when Winter gets older. We'll just make the best of it and hope we don't get sick afterward (my wife is 0-2 for CEC parties – she's been to two and come home with a cold after each).